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News and Features about Organized Crime, Mafia and La Cosa Nostra taken from National and Local News Sources. In an attempt to get you this type of coverage in a timely manner we can not be responsible for the content of the following material. |
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3-7-01 Jury convicts four men in robbery of jewelry store, other businesses.
By MARK MORRIS - The Kansas City Star A Kansas City businessman, his son and two other men were convicted by a federal jury Wednesday for their roles in a 1997 conspiracy to rob Tivol Jewels and other businesses of about $4 million in diamonds, merchandise and cash. A fifth man, Michael McCarthy, was acquitted of charges that he was part of the conspiracy. McCarthy, however, is serving a life sentence for the 1998 robbery of a Northland bank. The daylight robbery of $2.5 million worth of diamonds and other merchandise from the Tivol store on the Country Club Plaza on Oct. 30, 1997, was the largest jewel robbery in Kansas City history, investigators said. After three days of deliberation, jurors convicted:
The Porrellos were acquitted on three counts each of charges related to the December 1996 robbery of Facets jewelry at 334 W. 75th St. Angelo Porrello once owned J's Pawn and Loan at 1380 Brush Creek Blvd. His son owns Porrello Sandridge Jewelers at 115 W. 75th St. The Porrellos were accused of encouraging others to rob jewelry stores in 1996 and 1997 and then buying -- or fencing -- some of the stolen diamonds. After the verdicts were announced, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Becker, leader of the Organized Crime Strike Force, said moving against the Porrellos was a crucial part of the case. "It was important to track down the fences in these robberies because they're the ones who make these jewelry store robberies profitable," Becker said. Defense lawyers said they planned further action. "We're disappointed in the verdict," said James Wyrsch, who represented the elder Porrello. "We intend to file a motion for a new trial." Defense lawyers focused much of their effort in the 31/2-week trial on attacking the credibility of the prosecution's star witness, Clarence Burnett, a 26-year-old convicted cocaine dealer who masterminded the robberies. Burnett and six other men earlier pleaded guilty to their roles in the jewelry store robberies and those of six other businesses. The defense's primary weapons were audio recordings of more than 5,000 telephone calls Burnett made to friends and family members while he has been held at a jail for federal prisoners in Leavenworth. Last year a federal judge gave defense lawyers permission to download the calls after they became suspicious that Burnett was speaking about the case with others. David B.B. Helfrey, a former strike force prosecutor who represented Joseph Porrello, said the recordings showed that Burnett was fabricating testimony against innocent people to enhance his cooperation with investigators and shorten the life sentence he faces on his drug charge. Helfrey said that despite the outcome of the Kansas City trial, the technique of using jail telephone records to impeach the testimony of convicted government witnesses was likely to spread. "You're going to see motions like this all over," Helfrey said.
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